A TIMES PUBLIC SERVICE REPORT

You Say Your Workers Can’t Read

But have you considered teaching them how? Somebody else’s job? That’s not what Budget Rent-a-Car thought. Or Tri-Lite Manufacturing or Trans-America Occidental or Price Pfister. Where does training basic literacy stop and other basic training begin? Educators like E.D. Hirsch, author of the best seller “Cultural Literacy” (Houghton Mifflin), insist that pure skill cannot be taught. All skills arrive embedded in a body of knowledge. Those who impart knowledge also teach skills, particularly when they actively seek to do so, and those who teach skills impart knowledge as well. The “cash value” of this insight is that an on-the-job training program (knowledge) joined to an academic program (skills) can make both immensely more effective. TRI-LITE MANUFACTURING

The brochure for the Independent Study Program (ISP) of the South Bay Union High School District reads: “Earn your high school diploma. Work around your schedule. Attend one hour a week.” Most adults who participate in the program complete 20 hours of home study a week and come in once a week, for an hour, to the program’s offices in Manhattan Beach for individual tutoring. However, two Los Angeles companies have added a new twist to the concept of independent study.

When Bea Lopez, treasurer of Tri-Lite Manufacturing, heard about independent study, she asked ISP director Frances Giffin if the classroom could be moved to the workplace.

Since 46 of Tri-Lite’s employees were interested in the program, Giffin agreed to send her teachers to the company’s headquarters. According to Giffin, “Part of our philosophy of community education is to start a partnership with industry. Our first example is Tri-Lite.”

Three days a week when the plant, which manufactures lighting fixtures, shuts down at 4:30 p.m., employees pick up their books and head for the executive conference room where the tutoring part of the program takes palce. Management volunteers stay an extra hour on school days to lock up when classes are over.

All students are diagnostically tested before begininng the program so they can be matched with the proper text materials. Each student completes the 20 required hours of home study a week but gets individualized instruction upon coming to class.

To encourage employees in the program, Tri-Lite added a reward for completion of the studies--a weekend vacation for two in Las Vegas. Half of the expenses will be paid by the company and half will be paid by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers that represents factory employees at Tri-Lite.

Assembled in the conference room, Tri-Lite employees talked about the program. Husband and wife, Alfredo and Ofelia Rivera, have worked at Tri-Lite for 8 and 14 years, respectively. They attend class together and do their homework together in the evenings. Ofelia, who likes history and English, says, “I can remember when I could read nothing. Now I can read many things.” Alfredo, who excels at math but has difficulty with English, said: “This is the first time I have been to school. I was never interested before but here the boss gave us the opportunity so I took advantage of it and registered. I want to improve myself. Even though I’m older, I would feel very proud if I could get my high school diploma.”

Lopez said the program was easy to set up and easy to operate and encourages other busineses to initiate their own programs. Her only words of caution are that companies should not study the process for such a long time that the program becomes stagnated or never gets started. She says, “Start doing it and whatever needs to be corrected will be taken care of afterwards. If you want to find the perfect program--and then implement it perfectly--you may never get there.”

When asked how the company profits from the program, Lopez was quick to answer, “If you have an employee who feels good about himself or herself, then you have an employee who is going to be willing to work, who has a very positive attitude, who is going to be happy and who will produce better.”

BUDGET RENT-A-CAR

Suzanne Bovaird, personnel administrator for Budget Rent-a-Car, put a notice about ISP in the paychecks of employees at the company’s office at the Los Angeles International Airport. She was surprised when 28 employees said they were interested in participating.

Since the program began the number of employees participating has grown to 45. Most of the students are lot attendants and service center employees. Class is on site at Budget four days a week and most students come before or after their shifts or on their days off.

Juan Barajas has worked at Budget for five years. He came to California from Mexico 16 years ago and speaks fluent English. Even though the program only requires one hour a week of individualized instruction, Barajas has attended every day for the past two months and has earned 20 credits toward his diploma. He says, “I don’t really think about the diploma. I want to learn--to be somebody.”

Students at Budget talk about how their new skills are helping them communicate better with customers, how they are getting better at filling out insurance forms and accident reports. Some of them are in the amnesty program and are seeking U.S. citizenship. Many of them are able, for the first time, to help their children with homework. Some of them have high school diplomas from other countries and, because some of those credits can be applied toward their diploma, Budget expects to graduate 12 students this year.

Like the executives at Tri-Lite, management at Budget has turned a conference room into a classroom. Sitting in the conference room, teacher Vicki Apodaca said the level of enthusiasm is high among students, they work hard, and they are very appreciative. According to Apodaca, “They value education very much. They thank me every day--that’s how excited they are.”

PRICE PFISTER PLUMBING

Hanging on the door of the training department at Price Pfister in Pacoima is a class schedule that rivals that of a small adult school. A checkerboard of programs, the schedule lists course titles, times, and dates. Of the company’s approximately 1,400 employees, more than 300 participate.

Price Pfister, which manufactures plumbing fittings, offers four types of courses: ESL, a supervisory development program, a skills improvement program, and basic computer literacy. For most of the classes, the company works in conjunction with either Mission College or Kennedy-San Fernando Community Adult School, and instructors teach in two classrooms set up in the company.

ESL classes are offered at various levels. The supervisory development program, which results in a college certificate, has a variety of components from organization and management skills to introductory writing skills. The skills improvement program deals with math, blueprints and precision measuring instruments, and the computer programs focus on inventory planning and control.

According to training specialist Eugene Jones, “The qualifications on a lot of our jobs are to speak, read, and write English, know basic math, read blueprints, and use precision instruments.” The classes, he states, are giving the company better qualified workers and a pool of people that will likely become long-term employees. The employees, he says “are truly interested in moving ahead and advancing their careers.”

Price Pfister’s commitment to education extends beyond the work site. A participant in the Adopt-A-School program, the company has purchased and installed a computer lab at Vaughn Street Elementary School, and Price Pfister employees, on their lunch hours, tutor the students. In addition, the company funds a yearly scholarship for an outstanding student at Kennedy-San Fernando Community Adult School.

TRANSAMERICA OCCIDENTAL

Since 1974, Transamerica Occidental has been involved in on-site educational programs. The first was a shorthand class but the list of available classes has expanded to include spelling, typing, grammar and computers.

Headquartered in downtown Los Angeles, the insurance comany has five classroom facilities. To date, more than 160 classes, not including programs for managers, have been held in-house and most of them have been taught by full-time company instructors. Also in 1987, Transamerica held an additional 150 computer classes which lasted from a half day to four days.

All classes are held during working hours and meet for one hour a day, five days a week. Participation is voluntary. Transamerica pays for all costs and employees are paid for their time away from the job. Classes are usually filled and because employees view the training programs as a benefit, each year the number of classes increases.

Last year Transamerica contracted with Los Angeles Trade Tech to teach two new courses--business communications and ESL (English as a Second Language). Two levels of ESL and three levels of business communications courses were offered and instructors taught the classes at the company. The business communications courses included basic skills like sentence structure at the first level and more difficult tasks like proposal writing at the third level.

Winston Cook, educational representative in the management and organizational development department, says of the new courses, “I call it ‘workplace literacy’ and take it out of the context of literacy, implying that these people are not literate. They are literate. The thing we are trying to do is to make them more workplace-literate and develop them to the extent that they can move up in the organization.”

The educational effort benefits both the company and the employees. The programs have resulted in a work force that is up to date in computer and data processing areas. On the flip side, employees gain added skills and a greater chance for promotion. Carol Bromberg, director of public relations, calls it a win-win situation and says that the educational opportunities “show the company’s commitment to our employees.”